Madras High Court’s Intellectual Property Rights Division was formally inaugurated on 12 April, after the Madras High Court Intellectual Property Division Rules for 2022 were issued on 5 April 2023.
In a significant development within the field of intellectual property (IP), the Tamil Nadu government’s notification of the Madras High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules paved the way for the establishment of dedicated benches for handling intellectual property rights (IPR) cases within the Madras High Court.
This move followed the dissolution of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in Chennai in April 2021, resulting in the transfer of pending appeals to the Madras High Court.
However, until now the court was unable to proceed with these appeals and cases due to the absence of rules outlining the procedures for filing appeals against IPR authorities’ orders and writ petitions challenging their actions, or lack of action.
This notification follows the court’s directive in the Galatea Limited v Registrar General, High Court of Judicature of Madras case, which mandated the formal inauguration of the IP division.
The Madras High Court is the second court in the country, after the Delhi High Court, to establish an IP division.
According to the rules, after the abolition of the IPAB under the Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021, the court formed the Intellectual Property Committee to develop the necessary procedures.
On receiving the committee’s recommendations, the court proceeded to establish the IP division. The committee consisted of Justice M Sundar, Justice Abdul Quddhose and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy, who were assisted by IP lawyers Shuba Shiny, Sathish Kumar and MS Bharath.
